The story is about three friends DJ, Kate and Sam who spent their last day of the school. It was the last day of school. DJ was excited for the holidays. He skipped that day as he was too excited to plan a trip to the woods.
His best friends Kate and Sam also skipped school to hang out with DJ. They wanted to help but also wanted a good excuse for skipping school. They scoured the internet to find rental cars, camping spots, tents, etc. His laptop was starting to glitch as it was an old one.
By the time it resets, the boys thought of heading downstairs to check any mail. There was a lot of junk mail but one of those piqued their interests. It looked fancy and shady. They opened it and it read:
Darkness is my home. Catch me if you can. 7th house to your right.
1 2 5 2 5
They became suspicious and wanted to go to the 7th house to their right, but DJ was thinking about what the numbers meant. Suddenly a thought struck him.
He said to them, “ What if it is the date of a random day?” They decoded it to 12th May 2025. That was the next day. They planned on going to that house the next day.
The next day, DJ woke up, brushed his teeth, had a bath and ate his breakfast as fast as possible. He went to the 7th house to his right and found that Kate and Sam were already there.
He asked if they had their breakfast. Kate said, “A couple of waffles” and Sam said, “PB&J”.
They slowly went inside. It was a haunted house. They were searching for a light switch as it was very dark. There was a small window with its curtains shut closed. Sam went and opened the curtain. The house brightened up a little.
They found a doll. It was not scary, but it had blood droplets. They were creeped out, but they were also curious. They slowly touched the doll, and a secret tunnel opened with doors.
They randomly picked a door and to their surprise it was just another dark room. After they entered the tunnel Kate heard some weird sounds. He continued to walk without telling anyone. Now everyone started listening to louder sounds. They were investigating every corner and nook, but nothing was out of the ordinary other than the sounds. They saw a wall with a threatening message that read “I’m going to get you”. They didn’t know what to do.
They were led to some stairs by following arrows that were written on the wall. Each floor had the floor number. When they went to the 2nd floor, they saw the shadow of something. After they went to the 3rd floor, they saw a man dressed up as a pilot. He came closer and closer.
They ran inside a room and locked it. It was a bedroom. The man started to break the wooden door with his axe. The boys didn’t know what to do. The door slowly started to break. They saw a window. Sam took out the bedspread and tied it to the leg of the bed. Kate and Sam climbed out safely. They asked DJ to come fast. Just then the door opened. DJ took a wooden chair and hit the man with it. He blocked it and was about to swing his axe. DJ rushed to the window and jumped out. They heard even more noises.
Kate said, “Don’t they sound like kids?” DJ and Sam were able to corelate.
DJ explained a game that he got trapped, “I was welcomed into the castle by some woman. Lucky for me she was good and kind. She took Me to Sir Madveric (The God of dragons). I was guided my way to a court room which was made a mess by the people. A guy named Lucas came towards me and clapped at my face! Horrified I stepped aback. The people were laughing and mocking at me. It seemed that Lucas was a bully or a prankster. The main person, whose name was Xinochi, entered the class to talk about how to use a dragon twig. He was talking about the spells. “Almazanto! means summon the dragons,” said the master, who was sippin’ his drink. Then he gave a book, which was only having one page, to everyone. It seemed that all the spells were written in that ‘One-page book’.
The master then took us to the dragon home. It was where all the dragons were kept. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell my name. My name is DJ sir,” I said, waving my hand to the master. “Weird name,” said the master, in a low and loud voice. When we went outside, I thought we were learning about how to check the horizon, but the master had proven me completely wrong. We were learning about how to ride a dragon. I was riding with master Xinochi himself! He instructed me to hold the dragon near the neck region but gently.
I thought to myself that if I screw this up, I might just lose all my impression in front of the master. I want to be the daring but good kid. Twenty-five other I held the dragon there. Now he told me to hold the rope and steer. But I didn’t know how to steer.
So, master held my hand and made me do it. After a while, I was flying the dragon myself. I was imagining what could be more relaxing than riding a dragon above an ancient castle in the past. It was a ride of a lifetime.
Every kid landed safely into the terrain spot. I went to something that looked like a canteen.
Thinking and eating, I suddenly choked something that looked like pasta. A second later it was Lucas who came to my place to apologize for what had happened.
I was unsure if I had to accept the apology or just ignore him. I chose neither of the options and stayed quiet. It was night-time and everyone went to either second or third floor of the castle to sleep. I think I saw a big glitch in the game when I was riding the dragon. I suddenly fell off but came back in.” Sam thought for a while and said, “Maybe that glitch was the point of time the hacker hacked into the game. Did you hear anything weird in the game?” DJ said, “ The same thing that was written in the first junk mail we saw.”
Kate said, “We need to find out who this guy is.”
DJ said, “Did you hear the news about the children who mysteriously disappeared? They were last seen near a post-box that was near the 7th house. Maybe the same man hacked into the arcade game. His house was dark, and you know what the note said right. Anyways, I need to pack for tomorrow.”
DJ went to his home and started packing.
DJ said that it was Mr. Grimm’s house. Mr. Grimm was using the bathroom when the three friends entered his home. The three of them heard muffled screams coming from the basement. They saw another tunnel. DJ asked Kate to go through the tunnel and see what was on the other side. Kate went and was shocked. It was the 7th house. He heard a little girl cry. He went there and quickly grabbed the girl and came back through the tunnel.
They quickly went to the basement and opened it. The kidnapped kids were there! The three friends were shocked. They opened the cloth that covered the children’s mouth and untied their hands that were tied with ropes. A second later they heard loud footsteps coming towards the basement. Kate told DJ what he had seen
The kids were so scared. DJ, Kate, and Sam couldn’t understand why. Mr. Grimm came down the basement and saw us. “You pesky friends. How did you find the kidnapped kids,” Mr. Grimm asked with a low voice.
“It all makes sense. Your full name is Vlad Grimm. No wonder your house is connected to the restaurant in the basement downtown and no wonder you are a dear friend to Adam.” Sam said.
“You are the kidnapper” DJ shouted out loud. “You kidnapped the kids who lived in houses that didn’t have any cameras near them. Wait a minute. You are in a very bad financial state. Everybody knows that. You have a tunnel that leads to the haunted house. You asked that man to kidnap all the kids and send them to your house via the tunnel. I saw that every kid was last seen near the same post-box. You and that man will share the money you get from their parents and most of it goes to you.”, DJ added.
“You went to Bruce’s house? No wonder you are smart, but now it is useless because you are going to be locked in here forever,” Vlad said and laughed maniacally. DJ laughed and said, “Well, not if I called the police just the second, I reached your house.” The police had Vlad surrounded and he was sent to prison, and the kids happily went to their homes. DJ, Kate, and Sam were awarded with detective badges.
In the prison, Vlad asked DJ to come near him, and he whispered to DJ, “I will be back kid!” DJ laughed and said, “You want to go to prison more than one time? Well, that’s fine with me.”
After 10 days, summer holidays were over, and the new academic year had started. DJ told Kate and Sam, “I hope this year we will learn about firewalls. I don’t want to get stuck in virtual reality again.” The three of them laughed.
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